A fault-powered supply receives a fault current from a line conductor and powers electrical components from the fault current. An important electrical component of some circuit breakers is a solenoid, which must attain a predetermined voltage in order to energize an actuator that causes a trip mechanism of the circuit breaker to trip the circuit breaker. As is well known, a circuit breaker is an automatically operated electro-mechanical device designed to protect conductors from damage caused by an overload or a short circuit. Circuit breakers may also be utilized to protect loads. A circuit breaker may be tripped by an overload or short circuit, which causes an interruption of power to the load. A circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume current flow to the load. One application of circuit breakers is to protect motors as part of a motor control center (“MCC”). A typical MCC includes a temperature triggered overload relay, a contactor and a motor circuit protector (“MCP”). The MCP is a specialized circuit breaker that provides instantaneous protection against instantaneous short-circuit events.
It is important to rapidly charge and maintain a sufficient voltage across the solenoid to cause a trip mechanism of the circuit breaker to trip when a trip event is detected. If the solenoid is not sufficiently powered or not powered rapidly enough, when a trip event needs to occur, a delay can be introduced. When transitioning between un-powered and powered modes of the circuit breaker, the voltage levels across the solenoid can be unpredictable, leading to nuisance trips such as when fault powered current falls below the lowest pickup threshold.
What is needed is a way to regulate voltage for a circuit protection device of a motor circuit protector. There is also a need for a voltage regulation module that provides rapid charging for energy storage for actuating a circuit breaker mechanism. There is also a need for a voltage regulation module that provides for accurate measurement of energy stored for actuating a circuit breaker mechanism.